
Romantic Theology
The Oxford Inklings
NI - RT-Oxford Inklings
Northwind Institute
Certificate Course
SYLLABUS:
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS:
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Pure “Northernness” engulfed me: a vision of huge, clear spaces hanging above the Atlantic in the endless twilight of Northern summer, remoteness, severity…and almost at the same moment I knew that I had met this before, long, long ago….” --C.S. Lewis in Surprised by Joy
Nostalgia for the North--an eternal longing and romantic notion of an endless twilight of the summer stars--is a certain feeling the Inklings had in common. Symbolically, northernness is an orientation in life, a quality of character, an image and metaphor in theology and ministry, the first of the four Cardinal points of the circle of life to which all others are related. For C.S. Lewis and the Oxford Inklings, the way to God lies to the North.
This introductory course in Northwind Seminary’s Doctoral Program in Romantic Theology seeks to capture the twilight notion of the North found in Norse mythology and Celtic spirituality, and embodied in the imaginative writings of the Oxford Inklings. In witnessing to primordial truths in the wisdom traditions and premodern Christianity, the legacy of the Inklings lives on in postmodern times, now in service to theology and ministry for the neXtchurch-- the “new thing” God is doing (Isa. 43:19), the next Re-formation, and fresh expressions of Ecclesia in the world
ASSIGNMENTS: See Syllabus
LINKS TO DIGITAL RESOURCES:
Voice of C.S. Lewis on the mystery of time in his War-time ‘Broadcast Talks’ on the BBC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHxs3gdtV8A
Voice of C.S. Lewis on Eros and the other kinds of loves in his American radio talk on “The Four Loves” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WReLIE08Dnc
Malcolm Guite’s podcast on “The Inklings: Fantasists or Prophets?” (The Cambridge Lectures, Part One ( 2011) with new introduction for Northwind Seminary, 2020)
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/malcolmguite/episodes/2011-10-05T14_25_19-07_00
Diana Glyer on Collaboration of the Inklings (Presbyterian Heritage Center Lecture) https://youtu.be/9Ch0EJ8-fvM
Crystal Hurd’s blog: www.CrystalHurd.com
Clip from Shadowlands https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S2X7ihtc68
Clip from National Geographic feature on the Inklings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZTXLE8Uobc
Profile of the Oxford Inklings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2loUswCfgoQ
Interviews with Dr. Carol Zaleski on The Fellowship
New Book Network: https://newbooksnetwork.com/carol-zaleski-the-fellowship-the-literary-lives-of-the-inklings-fsg-2016/
Late Night Live with Phillip Adams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RMTdRzC9wYhttps://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/the-other-oxford-group/6477394?fbclid=IwAR1OKyamlR_eIb_u_Xse89Jiz7ypyaowUJJ0LGOh8dcTuTicnlsuFgR6YC8
The John Batchelor Show: